Favors Outlive the Giver?

No wonder no new blood can get ahead in this city.

• Chicagoans long have known that they may vote from the great hereafter. Similarly, a political campaign worker aced a city job interview a few years back, even though he had died a few days earlier.

  And Mayor Richard Daley's swelling re-election campaign fund now has received money that originally was donated for the political account of Democratic powerbroker George Dunne. The late George Dunne.
  On Monday, almost nine months after Dunne's passing, the Daley campaign reported receiving a $10,000 contribution from the George W. Dunne Campaign Fund.
  Since Dunne died, other beneficiaries of the fund have included Todd Stroger's successful bid for Cook County Board president ($5,000); losing Democratic congressional candidates Dan Seals and Tammy Duckworth ($1,000 each); the International Ministry in Chicago ($10,000); and the University of St. Mary's of the Lake in Mundelein ($3,000).

So whomever is controlling the estate of the late George Dunne is able to make contributions in his name to politicians and get favors on behalf of an entire new generation of politicos? One wonders if this is all the graft money stashed away in various safety deposit boxes and under mattresses that was collected over the decades.

Stories from Comment Sections

A couple of stories we've been keeping an eye on and looking for more info about. From the comments section - please excuse the all CAPITAL letters. We didn't type it, we just thought it might deserve front page exposure:

• LISTEN TO THIS B.S.!
  2 FEMALE PO'S RESPOND TO A DOMESTIC THE FEMALE [citizen] SPITS ON ONE OFFICER THEN CLAIMS SHE HAS AIDS, THEN PULLS A BOX CUTTER ON THE OTHER CLAIMING SHES GONNA KILL HER,,THEY DISARM HER AND GET KICKED A FEW TIMES TOO WHILE PUTTING HER IN THE POLICE VEHICLE. WHILE IN THE STATION THE [citizen] SAYS SHE IS GONNA GET HER GD BOYFRIEND TO KILL ALL OFFICERS OF THE DISTRICT AND TRIES TO THROW FECES AT THE OFFICERS TO GIVE THEM AIDS AND SHE ADMITS TO THE W/C SHE WANTED TO SLASH THE PO'S. EASY AGGRAVATED BATTERY PO RIGHT? NOPE WATCH COMMANDER CLAIMS THE POLICE ARE MAKING UP STORIES AND SHOULDN'T WORK TOGETHER ANYMORE AND TELLS THE ON SCENE DICK THAT OFFENDER WILL BE RWOC!!! WTF!!! THIS IS 100 PERCENT TRUE..DON'T GO TO 007 people
  
  2/16/2007 02:39:00 AM
  
  Half way through the story, I knew the punch line would be Mary Rozell. Easily the worst, most dangerous W/C in the city. And this nut wonders why she can't keep people on her watch.

We know we have readers in 007, even if they don't have access to a computer during work hours. Anyone got the scoop on this?

Next up, we're going to paraphrase a comment we were asked not to publish as it was typed, presumably so we didn't inadvertently ID the writer:

• Shooting in 012 at 18th Place and Hoyne. Gangsters shot at a car and it's learned the Beat guys did a contact card that night. Tact gets the suspect who confesses, surrenders the gun and the second shooter. Dicks take a statement but the ASA is pissed that she's missing nap time and pushes the offender to lawyer up. ASA refuses to charge - no exempt override.

Again, this is paraphrasing and who knows what axes are being ground in 012 and Area 4 lately. But does anyone have info on this one? If we're getting exempts refusing to back their officers and ASA's refusing to charge felons, we really need to start bringing it to light.

New Dollar Coins to Fail

The US Mint is rolling out a new set of dollar coins this month and for the next few years. This follows on the heels of a number of aborted attempts to replace the dollar bill as a standard of US currency. Unfortunately, as so many times before, this effort is doomed for a number of reasons:

• Vending machines not accepting the coins. Ease of use is one of the keys to getting the public to be comfortable with the coin enough to want to use it regularly. We've only ever seen one vending machine that accepted the Sacajawea dollar and never one that took the Susan B. Anthony.
  
• The regular paper dollar is still out there. The only reason Canadians accepted and used the one dollar "loonie" coins was that the government pulled the paper dollars out of circulation as they were taken in by retailers and banks. We still have some Canadian paper dollars lying around here somewhere from a few fishing trips and when we bring them up north, the citizens are amazed to see their old paper dollars outside of a museum.
• Strippers can't put dollar coins in their thongs. Seriously. How are guys (and gals) going to tip for lap dances and the like with dollar coins? A roll of these things is going to be awfully inconvenient when out for a weekend worth of fun. Especially cheap coppers - they aren't going to be tossing five dollar bills around and who ever sees a two dollar bill anymore?

Just a few thoughts.

Place Your Bets!

Is history repeating itself? Anna Nicole style?

• US Magazine reported that Spears went into a hair parlor to get her head shaved and that when the hair stylist refused to shave her head, Spears grabbed the clippers and shaved it herself.
• The woman said Spears "wasn't making sense at all" and that it seemed like she wasn't in a good place. She said Spears was "totally freaking out."
• Earlier in the week, Spears checked into a rehabilitation facility and then quickly checked out, People Magazine reported. People reported that the pop diva checked herself into Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre in Antigua but left after one day.

OK, any bets on what the hell she's on? Meth? Heroin? Coke? And any bets on where it's going to end up? Rehab? Intervention? Medical Examiner case?

It's amazing - you can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the girl. And get a load of this melon:

Sinead O'Connor she ain't. Or Grace Jones. Or Annie Lennox. Hell, she's not even Howie Mandel, though if you throw a soul patch on her, she's close.

Mayor Minds Own Business?

Amusing:

• Mayor Richard M. Daley said he was staying out of Cook County's current budget crisis.

Well sure - when your enemy (or political rival or convenient fall guy) is busy cutting his own throat, you don't get in the way. You merely observe where to stand so as to avoid most of the splatters. And Devine's quotes from the article are highly amusing, too:

• Fifty-three of the 800 assistant state's attorneys, as well as 12 of the 160 investigators have received their two-week notice, NBC5's Natalie Martinez reported. Eventually, 65 of the 500 administrators will also be laid off."We are going to lose a lot of veteran prosecutors who would be the ones with the biggest and toughest cases," Devine said. "That's really going to undermine the criminal justice system."

6% of the ASA's - which is quite a bit less than the 17% demanded by Urkel - are all going to be First Chair veteran prosecutors? Hasn't Devine ever heard of seniority/reverse seniority? Shouldn't he be laying off the recent hires and political hacks of an overburdened bureaucracy? One would think that Devine is running interference for someone by keeping the spotlight focused on County mismanagement rather than another person whose administration is currently under a Federal microscope.

Foie Gras Nonsense

And the waste of taxpayer's money continues:

• Chicago officials have issued their first citation for violating the city's new ban on the duck-liver delicacy known as foie gras.
  
  And it wasn't at some high-end French cafe -- it was at a hot dog restaurant on the city's Northwest Side. Doug Sohn, the owner of Hot Doug's, has been serving foie gras-laced hot dogs for several months, and he was slapped with a citation just before opening time on Friday. His foie gras was confiscated and Sohn faces a fine of from $250 to $500 at his March 29 court date.

Watch for this poor guy to get slapped with the maximum fine, just to make an example. Was it Sun-Tzu who said "Kill one man, terrorize a thousand"? Regardless, it's a Chinese proverb being applied to the restaurant business in Chicago - "Fine one man half a grand and everyone else will fall into line." What single proprietor business, let alone a larger corporate entity, is going to spend a part of the profit margin on fighting the stacked deck that is Chicago licensing? Very very few. So much easier to go along with the mindless drones and lemmings that are prevalent in this burg.

The trouble is every time you or anyone else goes along with what is easy instead of resisting what is obviously a case of government overreach and intrusion into private enterprise, everyones rights get eroded. And little by little, people begin to expect government to take care of things that citizens used to take care of on their own and the "nanny state" continues its march into every single aspect of what used to be your life.

The Tribune also covers this stupidity.

Farewell Officer Vazquez

A bunch of stories in the media.

Tribune, Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7.

We've also heard that the investigation into this case has hit a brick wall. This isn't for lack of effort on the Detective's part but rather the fact that the investigation is being run out of 35th Street rather than Area 4.

We won't speculate aloud on this one, but the rumors and e-mails have been flying back and forth between ourselves and a large number of disgusted PO's, bosses of all levels and more detectives than we'd care to mention regarding the conduct of this investigation. Rumors will NOT be published at this point - keep the BS to yourselves - we've read a bunch of it and it isn't going to get aired here at the moment. Stay sharp people.

Fun Times in the Big Easy

New Orleans never impressed us an anything but an overly hyped humid city that was miles and miles of crap surrounding a square mile or two of anything worth visiting. And after Hurricane Katrina, when every other state and municipality was able to recover within a year with the biggest Federal bailout in history, dysfunctional New Orleans continued to wallow in self pity and self destruction.

It continues:

• With tourists streaming into town for Mardi Gras celebrations, a spasm of gun violence left two people dead and seven wounded -- more bad news for a city struggling to rebuild itself and its tourism industry.
  
  Officials noted the bloodshed did not occur near any of the parades Thursday night to celebrate Carnival, which culminates Tuesday in Mardi Gras.

Funny how the crime rate in communities that accepted New Orleans refuges continues to skyrocket and New Orleans itself is averaging violent crime on a scale far in excess of cities three, four and five times it's size.

Justice to Prevail

On 04 February, we wrote about a 74 year old Minnesota farmer who chased down a gasoline thief and ended up facing felony charges for doing what we hope decent citizens everywhere would do - namely, get involved.

Well according to this Sun Times article, the felonies have been downgraded to two misdemeanors AND the thief (who pled guilty) is defending the farmer for doing the right thing and offered to help in any way possible:

• CAMBRIDGE, Minn. -- A man pleading guilty to stealing gas and a car radiator offered support for the retired farmer who was charged with threatening him with a shotgun.
• Englund chased [Christian Smith and an accomplice] while calling the sheriff's office on a cell phone. After the vehicles stopped and a deputy sheriff arrived, Englund's shotgun was found to be unloaded, according to police.
• ''I don't think he should be held responsible," Smith said. "I committed a crime and, you know, he did what he probably thought was right.''

As good as it is to see this 74 year old farmer chasing down a thief, it's amazing to see the thief step up and take responsibility for his actions. And it's even more gratifying to see this goofy sheriff who originally approved these charges back pedalling so fast he's leaving skidmarks.

No Paychecks?

Citywide PDT message a few minutes ago (#070713). Seems the City is claiming a "printing error" and there are no paper checks available for pick up this morning. Some people who have direct deposit are saying that they got their money, but if you still get an actual physical check, you're out of luck.

If the City doesn't meet is payroll by 1400 hours, they are in default and lawsuits are your primary recourse in the event that automated withdrawal of bills and mortgage payments start bouncing due to insufficient funds.

Does anyone think Dorothy Brown might be able to pay the employees on time?

Corruption? In Chicago?

Wasn't it just last year or so that Daley was touted as one of America's best mayors?

How fortunes change. Via GatewayPundit:

• A mayor whose administration is under federal investigation. An alderman who just got hit with a federal bribery charge. Four politicians who served time for corruption and want their old jobs back.

  All are candidates in this month's municipal elections in Chicago, a city legendary for graft.

And they don't even touch on the endemic corruption in the Department of Transportation, Buildings, Personnel, Streets and a myriad of police scandals (some manufactured, some not) along with the mysterious powers of low bid contracting turning out to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 33% more than originally listed.

Imagine if we actually had competent local media investigative reporters.

Dorothy Brown Pulling Away

From reality evidently.

Attempting to generate an issue that she can hitch her wagon to, Dorothy proceeds to attack that old whipping boy - the Police Department!

• Mayoral challenger Dorothy Brown vowed today to overhaul the Police Board and the Office of Professional Standards and seriously consider realigning police beats to remove what she called the “long shadow” over the Chicago Police Department cast by former Lt. Jon Burge.
• “We don’t have adequate policing in some communities. . . . There is a need to have the Chicago Police Department to be fairly and equitably placed throughout the city of Chicago. I have heard from many citizens . . . that beats [are not] being patrolled in some communities. . . . We absolutely will review the beats as they are now and determine whether or not a beat realignment is necessary,” she said.
• Brown also promised to: install more cameras in squad cars; order “cultural sensitivity training” for police officers; breathe new life into community policing; and intensify the recruitment of minority officers. She wants to bridge a “racial divide” of police mistrust that shows 64 percent of whites, but only 40 percent of blacks, give favorable ratings to the Chicago Police, according to a recent survey.

Oh joy! More cameras that no one watches; more cultural sensitivity that pulls officers off the street for a non existent problem; more dollars wasted on a community policing program that has run it's course; more minority recruitment for what is already one of the most culturally diverse departments in the city (why not look at the Department of Transportation Dorothy?)

The proposals to overhaul OPS are just as ridiculous and tying in beat re-alignment with Burge is just goofy. And don't even get us started on which communities are being shorted police service - the answers would no doubt surprise Dorothy and her handlers.

Who writes this policy drivel for her?

SecondCityDick Missing in Action

The SecondCityDick.blogspot website is gone. Missing. Kaput.

We hope it's just a case of their people getting fed up or tired of attempting to maintain a site and not something sinister like the old SCCN bulletin board that was shut down after R.M.G. sued the webmaster.

It's always interesting to read and get the different views like SecondCitySarge and the two dispatcher blogs we have listed in the side bar. We're still hoping that someone starts up the SecondCity Lieutenant, SecondCity Captain or SecondCity Exempt blogspot sites one of these days.

In the meantime, a moment of silence for a fallen blog.

Daley Sued Over Burge

Give a lawyer enough money and they'll file all sorts of lawsuits:

• Mayor Richard M. Daley was added Wednesday as a defendant in a civil suit alleging that city officials have conspired for 25 years to cover up the torture of suspects by Chicago police.
• Former Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine were also added to the lawsuit filed on behalf of Darrell Cannon, who claims he was tortured into confessing to a murder he didn't commit.

Daley was the State's Attorney back when these allegations took place and it's been suggested that he rode Burge's clearance rate to the 5th Floor of City Hall. If so, how is he riding on today's clearance rate? We suppose citizens get the politicians they deserve, too.

A Couple of Nice Stories

Nice story from the Tribune and Channel 2.

• A Chicago police officer was credited Wednesday with leading a South Side family to safety overnight from their burning house.
  
  Officer Michael O'Connor said he was driving to work shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday when he saw flames shooting out of the windows of a two-story home in the 1700 block of West 71st Street in the West Englewood neighborhood.

Too bad they can't balance out all the negative press we get so much more of.

And it's too bad these articles had to be written at all - Jose Vazquez remembered by his family (Sun Times story) and his team (Channel 7 article). We should all be remembered as well as he seems to be.

Quick! Check Your Pockets!

Toddler Stroger just "discovered" $25 million lying around that will (A) spare public defenders from a 4 day work week, (B) increase the pay for Assistant State's Attorney's, thereby reducing the gap between prosecutors and public defenders, (C) save "drug school," and (D) fund a number of other social programs that had fallen to the axe.

• The money will come from the transfer of $13.2 million from the Forest Preserves, $4.25 million from the sale of the old Domestic Violence Courthouse, the elimination of jobs exempt from the federal Shakman decree and other sources, Mayberry said.

Who knows what Urkel will discover tomorrow - stay tuned! And keep voting for democrats.

Chilling Reminder

We hate to point this out, especially in light of the recent articles about the very poor clearance rate posted by the Department in past days, but this is depressing:

• The murders of two suburban police officers late last year remain unsolved.

  On Sept. 27, 2006, Metra Police Officer Thomas Cook was shot in the back of the head while keeping watch over a train station in south suburban Harvey.

• On Oct. 23, 2006, Maywood Police Officer Thomas Wood was shot several times in the head as he sat in his police sport utility vehicle. His police dog, a Malinois shepherd, was unharmed.

One would hope that all murders are solved. One would expect that all murders of police officers, whether on or off duty would be solved, too. But the fact remains that many times (and in recent years, a majority of the time) murders go unsolved. And there was a study years ago that said when there was no progress within 72 hours, the chances of a homicide being solved dropped precipitously.

We heard that the west side is crawling with police from all over the city: Tact teams, Gang teams, Specialized Units, Detectives, even a few hundred recruits beating the bushes for evidence. Keep it up boys and girls - someone somewhere knows something. Find them.

The reward is up to $21,000 according to Channel 7.

Why Cut Taxes Again?

Oh yeah, because lower tax rates generate more investment which increases tax receipts and decreases the deficit. But don't believe us. Via Ace of Spades:

• "Very Real Possibility" Budget Will Be In Surplus At End Of Bush's Term

  The deficit keeps falling, falling, falling.

  I seem to remember the media taking an interest in such things when they could be credited to a Democratic President.

  Another blogger, TaxProf, notes the tax receipt bonanza.

  Make sure you read each of the bloggers covering the story, because you damn sure ain't gonna see it on the network news.

You aren't going to see this on the network news because whenever "it's the economy stupid" makes a republican look good, the media buries the story. Hell, the price of oil has been below $60 bucks a barrel for quite a while lately and you won't hear a peep from the left about it.

Disarm the Police Off Duty?

Thank goodness there actually was an off duty copper carrying a gun in Utah Monday:

• An off-duty police officer having an early Valentine's Day dinner with his wife was credited Tuesday with helping stop a rampage in a crowded shopping mall by an 18-year-old gunman who shot five people to death before he was killed by police.
• Ken Hammond, an off-duty officer from Ogden, north of Salt Lake City, jumped up from his seat at a restaurant after hearing gunfire and cornered the gunman, exchanging fire with him until other officers arrived, Burbank said.

We never understood why anyone would carry a badge off duty but not a gun - the two go together or not at all. And especially in light of the recent changes in Federal Law, there's no reason not to carry. Are we all going to run into gun wielding maniacs in the mall? No, probably not. But should one ever appear, wouldn't it be nice to be able to defend your family or other people's families because you can?

Planting More Guns

That's the only explanation. The jury certainly ate it up (Channel 2 coverage):

• Now, almost four years later, Ware's mother and her attorneys have won a wrongful death judgment from a federal civil jury. The City of Chicago has agreed to pay $5.25 million in damages.
  
  During the trial, before federal judge Joan Lefkow, attorneys for Ware's mother argued that the victim, who was shot six times from behind, was in fact, unarmed and that police placed the weapon in the car later.
  
  "People from all walks of life spent a week of their time listening to the evidence and concluded that this gun was planted,” said Jon Loevy, the Ware family’s attorney.

In-fucking-credible. In this day and age, planting a gun at a crime scene. People still believe this shit. Not only believe it, but are prepared to award damages based on it.

We'd sure like to see which city, county and state politicians this lawyer makes contributions to. $5.25 million based on a justified shooting. Channel 7 also has coverage.

Blogging While Banned

We assumed that we'd lose a few hundred visitors right after we were banned by the Department. It only made sense that our hits would plummet when no one was checking the blog during business hours. In the below chart, you can see the dip right around Superbowl Sunday (04 Feb) and the slight drop off for the three days following as the Department filters took their toll.

But Thursday (08 Feb), with the Sergeant Test results arriving in the mail, we topped 3,000 for the day, our weekend numbers have recovered nicely and on Monday (a holiday) we approached 4,000 hits on the day. If you hop over to the BlogShares website, our blog is now valued at $22,599.98 as of February 11th.

Now, we aren't greedy - we'd entertain offers of a flat $20,000 from any interested parties. And if a certain individual wanted to make a "Seiser Special" offer, we'd go as low as $18,000 just because we respect the fact that he runs everything. But until that day arrives, we'd just like to extend our thanks to our loyal readers who are actively seeking us out despite the efforts of the Department. Keep on spreading the word - we're still here.

Obama Steps In It

From the Washington Post:

• Sen. Barack Obama, circling through Iowa on Sunday before returning here on Day 2 of his presidential launch, challenged his Democratic rivals to lay out specifics for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and declared that the thousands of lives lost so far in the war had been "wasted."

  The senator from Illinois later said he regretted his choice of words, telling an interviewer that he meant the troops' sacrifices "have not been honored" by an adequate policy.

Evidently, Barack Obama has gone over to the Howard Dean wing of the democratic party. Appealing to the "Dean-iacs" will get you a bunch of crazy money early and a boost in the left wing polls and websites. Unfortunately, this isn't going to win you a national nomination and certainly isn't going to win you the center moderates of either party. And capturing the center is what's going to win the race in 2008.

We hate to see conspiracies where there isn't one, but Obama is coming off as a left wing whacko that is going to make Hillary look like a moderate. Our prediction - Flash in the pan.

Further Objections to Obama

If needed, Tribune log in "garbagegoeshere@gmail.com" and the password is "123456"

In our humble opinions, Obama has hit his high water mark. There's only so far that he can run being the "anti-Hillary." John Kass writes an exceptional column this past Sunday that will be the subject of numerous investigations and commercials, not from the Right, but from Hillary's people.

• Listen to giddy tones of the TV cheerleaders, the sweeping rhetoric about Obama transcending this or that, the breathlessness of it all. Yet pay most attention to what is avoided, and you will learn much about the heart of American journalism, and of the liberal candidate being championed.
• Another aspect often ignored in the approved national narrative is Obama's perplexing endorsement of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. As the national Democratic Party's anti-corruption poster child, Obama correctly lectured Republicans on corruption scandals that would help cost them control of Congress.
• Daley's people were all around him by then, the mayor's brother Bill, and their media consultant, David Axelrod, who also is Obama's media guy. The Daley administration in Chicago is one of the most corrupt in history, roiling with federal investigations, convictions of top aides, convictions of Outfit-connected mayoral cronies, scandals costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. And amazingly, the uncynical Obama endorsed Daley's re-election bid.

Go read it all. Kass is no dyed in the wool conservative, nor is he blinded by liberal dogma. He makes a lot of sense sometimes and there is no way that Obama can duck his Illinois connections in a national campaign.

Open Post

Listen - we have asked that the previous post be used ONLY for sympathies or condolences or even prayers for the fallen. We have about 25 or 30 posts below that one that are still open and can be used for all sorts of goofy crap. We'll even open up this post for off the wall comments. But leave the other one alone for shit's sake. There's a dead cop out there.

Off Duty Cop Killed in 011

Info to follow

Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times coverage.

WBBM Radio has broadcast the name Officer Jose Vazquez (we aren't sure of the spelling), but no word on the officer's unit of assignment. He leaves behind a wife. Prayers and Condolences only in this thread - all others will be deleted.

One comment has stated he worked in SOS.

Channel 5 - Anti Police

Well, looks like Channel 5 wins the race to the bottom. At least they're the ones who put it up on their website - we seldom watch actual local news anymore.

• "For a young child to go that early, it ain't right. It ain't right," said the boy's grieving mother, Canery Rucker.
• A tearful friend Dominick Boden said, "I don't think he rally tried to rob them, man, because he already knows something's happening around here, and he's not with that. He doesn't gang-bang. He doesn't do none of that. He just goes to school and dances."
• The family was claiming police brutality and said they planned to hire an attorney.
• Camden said police identified themselves as officers, warned Lazeric to drop the weapon and have witnesses to back up that account.
• Lazeric did have a prior arrest.

Yup, police brutality. Never mind the pistol on the scene - everyone knows that most street coppers carry around half a dozen spare pistols just in case they manage to shoot someone who isn't really carrying a firearm.

In fact, we remember posting that every single gun located within city limits was brought there by a police officer. Every damn one of them. No one on the west side, south side or north side even knows what a gun looks like until the police bring a gun there and drop it off at homicide scenes and robbery scenes and battery scenes. And when the guns arrive, the police have to teach the "offender" how to point it in a threatening manner so as to provoke a deadly force reaction from other police.

It's a rough job sometimes, hunting down completely innocent individuals, arming them, killing them and then fabricating entire crime scenes and criminal histories in order to get a few ribbons and medals. But someone has to do it.

Cameras - No One Watching

Sun Times columnist (and occasional reader of this website) Mark Brown writes about an incident on the CTA the last year:

• Ted and Kathy Ptak were coming home from a late dinner a few days before Christmas when a pickpocket lifted Ted's wallet as they were boarding the CTA's Blue Line at the Jackson Street station.

Ted chased and caught one of the pickpockets, but lost him when the criminal's partner showed up and tossed Ted his wallet in a diversionary tactic.

• Ted, you see, is a veteran Chicago Police officer who was off duty and unarmed on the night in question. As a police officer, he was pretty confident the pickpockets could be caught -- especially with an assist from the new surveillance cameras the CTA has been installing at mass transit stations throughout the city as part of the big Homeland Security push.
  

• Ted figured that would be enough to get somebody to make sure the video was preserved for a follow-up investigation.

  It wasn't until a detective did contact him -- three weeks later -- that Ted was told nobody had put a hold on the video and now it was too late. It had been recorded over. Ted couldn't identify his assailants from photo lineups of known pickpockets. Basically, the investigation was at a dead end from the point it started.

  And that really ticked off Kathy Ptak, who did something the wives of police officers don't normally do, that is, complain to the press.

  In particular, Kathy wondered why we're spending all this money to install these cameras if they aren't being put to proper use.

Hopefully, there isn't a brick placed upon Ted Ptak's career due to his wife's wondering what all of us have probably wondered and most likely speculated about over beers - does anyone ever really monitor or view all this camera data? It seems the answer (as everyone suspected) is "No."

These cameras are merely flashy devices that the mayor and aldercreatures throw up on poles so that citizens feel that someone is watching over them when the police are out of sight. We know that district teams are required to run POD missions daily, but the cameras are limited by being fixed in place and dope boys merely have to move around a corner to operate with impunity. Then you have these other cameras run by other agencies that have just about no capability to be monitored live and re-record over themselves within a day or less if holds aren't put on tapes. The camera's purpose isn't to record crime - it's to make the camera manufacturers rich.

Career advice to the next ambitious up and coming mayoral Chief of Staff - figure out a program by which you can collect, analyze, process, sort and store all the camera feeds from all the city agencies that run cameras. You're going to need storage capacity in the magnitudes of several terabytes per month. Just credit SCC for the idea.

Missing Tow Trucks

This has been the subject of a large number of citywide all-call messages and PDT notifications. Three city owned tow trucks decked out in the fluorescent yellow-green of the Traffic Management Authority have gone missing. Now it's the subject of a few media blurbs:

• Chicago police were trying to locate three city tow trucks.The trucks were stolen from a fenced lot in the 900 block of South Exchange Avenue on Super Bowl Sunday.Police said, so far, they've had no reports of unauthorized towing and the motive behind the thefts remains unclear.

Inside job? Someone starting a towing business? Or a hot car ring? Or something more sinister? Speculate away.

Another Dead Altar Boy

How long until the pictures start appearing of the dead teen in his cap and gown or the altar boy get up? We say by tonight's 10 o'clock news coverage of the Pizza Delivery robberies here at Channel 2, Channel 7, Tribune and the Sun Times.

• An undercover Chicago police officer posing as a pizza delivery driver shot and killed a 15-year-old boy late Saturday night after the teenager allegedly tried to rob him.
  
  Police said three suspects tried to rob the officer, who was part of an investigation into a string of robberies of food delivery drivers on the South Side. An alert had been issued about robberies in the area between 75th and 83rd Streets and Kedzie and Homan Avenues.

"String of robberies." "An alert had been issued." Remember those phrases when the baby's momma-drama starts up in time for the next news cycle. Let's see which news outlet starts the BS first - our money is on Channel 7. Good shooting people. Excellent job.

911 Text Messages? Video Calls?

Over at the ChicagoDispatch blog (also banned under the current Department filters) there is a lively debate going on about this Sun Times article:

• Chicago's 911 emergency system should be modified to allow callers to send cell-phone images and text messages to dispatchers from emergency scenes, the City Council's most powerful alderman said today.
• A woman who was unable to place a call during the ordeal for fear of alerting the deranged gunman text-messaged her boyfriend to call police. If the 911 center had been able to receive that text message directly, the police response might have been quicker, Burke said.
• "A private citizen could immediately transmit a photograph of a person fleeing the scene of an accident to the 911 center, which then could immediately transmit that photograph through the system to the Police Department. That kind of resource would be a great improvement...They could then transmit it to computers in the squad cars," Burke said.

Pardon our laughter - hahahahahaha. We can't even get PDT's that work 75% of the time. Coverage gaps are counted in square MILES where signal strength is insufficient to get the PDT up and running. And if it is up, LEADS and SOS (Secretary of State) info is hard to come by at least three times a shift.

ChicagoDispatch wonders how the calltakers are going to have any idea where in the world these messages are coming from. We agree - just listen to the zone on a daily basis when they give out one of those "unknown call origin between Cell tower A and Cell tower B" that covers something like 8 square city blocks, 2 radio zones and 3 police districts.

We don't know who on Aldercreature Burke's staff is watching too many sci-fi flicks and Star Trek reruns, but would someone please unplug their television? Thanks.

Mystery Solved

This man is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's child. If located, please notify the proper authorities so that child support arrangements can be made.

Where Do These People Get Off?

Last week, we noted that one of Toddler Urkel's relatives was comparing herself to Jesus in an effort to stave off potential criticism of her appointment:

• "I am qualified for this job. There will always be critics. My mother told me Jesus walked on earth and he had critics," said Donna Dunnings, Cook County chief financial officer.

We were of the opinion that this was stupidity of the highest order. That was until we saw the Drudge Report on Barack Obama's appearance on "60 Minutes" along with his wife:

• Obama's wife also addresses the race issue when asked by Kroft whether she fears for her husband's life as a black candidate. "I don't lose sleep over it because the realities are that... as a black man... Barack can get shot going to the gas station," says Michelle Obama. "You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen."

"as a black man... Barack can get shot going to the gas station"? Hey lady? Anyone can get shot going to the freaking gas station. It has nothing to do with being black. What a manipulative and completely asinine thing to say.

And then to top it all off, we made the mistake of reading Mary Mitchell again after Obama announced:

• Frankly, it is shameful that the most insulting question about race that has swirled around Obama’s campaign is about his commitment to blacks.

  If working as an organizer in a place like Altgeld Garden to empower residents to fight against environmental pollution and lead poisoning, moving on to the Illinois General Assembly and supporting legislation that targeted racial profiling and wrongful convictions, and pushing for the earned income credit wasn’t enough to prove his commitment to African-Americans, platitudes meant to assuage those voters won’t be enough to win this race.

• Just as his U.S. senatorial race afforded voters an opportunity to shake up the established political system, Obama’s presidential run offers the same opportunity.

  Black voters would be foolish not to take it.

So if you're black and don't support Obama, you're foolish and probably an Uncle Tom betraying the race. Incredible. An entire campaign based on everything that Martin Luther King Jr. marched against. Can anyone else smell the hypocrisy at work here?

Clearance Rate to Fall Farther

When are we going to kill all the lawyers?

• Criminal defense lawyers are going to court to try to force the Chicago Police Department and other agencies to release data they used in a study that claims a reform of police lineup procedures does not work.
• Since its release, the study has intensified a national debate between law enforcement groups that prefer the traditional method and reformers who want the "sequential double-blind" method to be universally adopted.
• The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, led by a group at the Northwestern University School of Law, filed a lawsuit Thursday in Cook County alleging that Chicago police, along with the Illinois State Police and two suburban departments, have illegally blocked access to the data.

Seriously. We need stacks of dead lawyers in the streets. Heaps. Piles. We need a cloud of vultures so thick that it blots out the sun for hours at a time. Can anyone guess why the Criminal Defense Lawyers want this method of line ups used?

• It found that in the sequential double-blind lineups--during which a witness looked at one photo at a time and police were unaware of the suspect's identity--witnesses were less likely to identify a suspect than during the traditional method of having a witness pick a suspect out of several people at once.

Big surprise there.

Rule #1 - When You're in a Hole ...

Stop Digging.

More revelations in Friday's Sun Times regarding the Federal lawsuit currently underway involving DEA agents and certain high ranking exempts:

• When Joseph Miedzianowski, once dubbed the most corrupt cop in the history of Chicago, was away in prison for life for running a cocaine ring, he got a pen pal.

  The letter writer was the former high-ranking Chicago police officer who had been assigned to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Miedzianowski years before the feds pounced on the crooked cop.

• On the witness stand Thursday, Risley said he didn't believe he had ever called Klipfel crazy.

  In the recorded conversation, though, Risley tells Miedzianowski that Klipfel is "f------ crazy" and "a stone f------ wacko."

  Risley also dubs Chicago Sun-Times columnist and WMAQ-Channel 5 reporter Carol Marin "a bitch" after she reported a story on Klipfel's allegations.
  

This a day after he had admitted the Feds had caught him on secretly recorded tapes. And a day after he contradicted a previously sworn deposition.

Who knows what tomorrow's testimony might reveal? And whether or not it is going to hasten the retirements of other as yet unnamed individuals. And whether or not it might damage the promotional chances of others. It boggles the mind.

Another Bright F#$%ing Idea

Where does Urkel get his brain trusts? Now the sheriff is getting into it.

• Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is proposing some ideas to generate revenue for the county as it faces a $500 million budget deficit. The sheriff wants criminals to pay to be locked up and to foot the bill for their own medical expenses. It is an idea that is getting some support.

Um, support from whom? In what manner? Most county inmates are indigent, or have no visible means of legal support. And families certainly aren't going to be ponying up money that might already be earmarked for lawyers. This is a pipe dream. Urkel is going to be raising taxes, service charges and user fees at some point. And hopefully, a taxpayer revolt at some point will bring on the collapse of county government.

Can You Say "Rule #14" Violation?

From the Chicago Police Department Rules and Regulations:

• Rule 14 - Making a false report, written or oral

If you are ever found guilty of a Rule 14 violation, your entire career is toast. You are (in the eyes of the Department) a liar of the highest order. You cannot testify to anything in court as your testimony is automatically suspect. You cannot cooperate with outside agencies or task forces as anything you may be required to sign or investigate is tainted. You cannot and should not be listed on case reports or Search Warrant affidavits or inventories or anything.

And then we read this in the Sun Times Thursday:

• Risley gave a different account concerning tapes the Chicago Police obtained of conversations between Klipfel and a drug dealer who was a confidential informant. The tapes were part of the Chicago Police investigation of Klipfel.

  In 2003, Risley said in a court deposition that he never had a copy of the tapes nor did he ever tell Miedzianowski he had a copy.

  On the witness stand Wednesday, Risley acknowledged having a copy of them. And he admitted he had been secretly recorded as part of the federal government's investigation of Miedzianowski discussing the tapes with the crooked cop.

This explains part of Risley's departure under a cloud. A deposition is a sworn court report. Contradicting it under oath is not exactly a bright move. Secondly, this shines an ugly light on something that has been whispered in the darkest hallways over the past few years - how far up the ladder does corruption go within this Department? When you look at the lists of exempts that have been fired, resigned, convicted or departed under clouds, you really have to wonder.

UPDATE: And in the Channel 7 report, the Superintendent certainly doesn't come off very well:

• The superintendent told the jury he thought Medzianowski was an "average investigator" with an "attitude." He remembered how Medzianowski "would stare at you until you turned away. He did it to me a couple of times." But Cline also confirmed that when he evaluated Medzianowski he rated the officer at 96 and 97 on a scale of 100.

  Cline also told attorney Sally Saltzberg that after he was promoted to Area 5 commander he filed two formal complaints against Medzianowski for allegedly stealing and passing on witness statements to gang members. Cline also testified that while he never heard back from the department's internal affairs division, the information he provided was eventually included in the federal case that convicted Medzianowski.

So the one time boss of the gang unit rated Medzianowski 96/97 out of 100? What does that tell you about the old rating system? And as D/C of Area 5, he couldn't get information on the progress of an investigation he initiated in regard to what can only charitably be described as Official Misconduct?

Oh. Ok then. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.

UPDATE: The Risley in question retired a couple years back. Post amended.

Another Stupid Idea

Back in July of 2006, we wrote about Cook County Commissioner Joseph Moreno proposing a house to house search to confiscate legally owned weapons.

On 02 February 2007, we pointed out that Moreno's proposal appears poised to become law in Cook County, though how enforcement will be carried out is unknown.

Now we have a proposal for a ten-cent-per-round tax being floated by Cook County Commissioner Robert Maldonado:

• What could be the nation's first tax on bullets is being floated as a way to help balance Cook County's budget.

  Commissioner Roberto Maldonado wants to slap a 10-cent-a-bullet tax on those buying ammunition in the county. It's one of dozens of plans offered to close the county's $500 million budget deficit.

All this is going to do is drive the few gun shops in Cook County out into the collar counties and cause anyone else who sells ammunition within the county boundaries to stop carrying ammo. You heard it here first. It'll be exactly like trying to balance the budget on the backs of smokers - everyone went out of state and out of county to get their cigarettes. The free market is a bitch when you try to control it. We will gladly spend the extra 30 minutes and 30 miles in a car to avoid paying Urkel and the rest of C(r)ook County any taxes on ammo.

Plus, there's always mail order to our out-of-state post office boxes.

Results Are Arriving!

Post em if you got em!

Clearance Rate Falters

Listening to WBBM this morning, this cheerful little quote (we're paraphrasing here):

• If you committed murder in Chicago last year, you probably got away with it.

And sure enough, according to Channel 5, Channel 7 and the Sun Times, the clearance rate for homicides fell to 36%, down from 42% a year ago and 47% in 2004.

And of course, the blame gets spread around liberally:

• Detectives, for instance, are dealing with a 2005 state law that required them to start videotaping interrogations.
• Some detectives say another 2005 policy that requires detectives to tell witnesses they have the right to leave the police station hampers investigations even more.
• Officials also noted that many of the department's 1,100 detectives have fewer than 10 years' experience, and there is a high turnover in some of the busiest areas of the city.

The dicks are overwhelmed, trying to do more with less, same as everyone else. Of course, downtown isn't cracking down on their overtime as much as they're cracking down on the Patrol Division (oops, we mean Bureau of Patrol), so the compensations are there. But if no one is bitching about the poor clearance rate, where's the impetus to improve it?

Congrats New Detectives!

50 more off the list. Anyone have the list? Post it and we'll publish it. Otherwise you gotta wait until tomorrow at the earliest. We aren't near a list right now. In fact, we aren't near Chicago right now. Ain't the internet grand?

Foreign Visitor

Whoever was visiting from Afghanistan around 0257 hours this morning, welcome! Hopefully, it's one of our brothers in blue visiting during some down time. Keep safe out there.

Serious Story? Or Bullshit?

Got a letter from a copper:

• Hey SCC, sorry if you got banned. Hopefully, you can get to the bottom of this info I just heard .... a couple of people who went to TARA training last week said the feds removed someone from class. This person was in a full CPD uniform, but was actually a foreign national with no association with the CPD. If true, this should be front page news in all the papers. Is it true that anyone can go into any uniform store and buy CPD uniforms without ID? And did this person have a star? A gun? How did he get in? How did he get caught? Is this some sort of probe to see what our training is like or our security protocols?

If true, this is disturbing, but not shocking. We all know al-Qaeda runs surveillance ops prior to attacks. Could this be a precursor to something? And if true, shouldn't the police be made aware that there are impostors in our midst (in our uniforms) attending the same security briefings and training we are? It's telling that they make their probes at a citywide training facility where everyone doesn't know everyone else and an imposter could easily get in and sit in on a training event.

Can or does anyone have info regarding this? If it's BS, fine, it isn't the first time we've been fed BS in the comments or via e-mail. But if it's true, then a bunch of people ought to be answering questions and maybe the media ought to do a little probing.

Go Urkel Go!

Gotta love that Toddler Stroger - the hits just keep on coming.

• Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is defending his decision to hire his cousin to fill an important job in his administration. President Todd Stroger says Cook County residents are getting a bargain. His cousin won't take a pay raise. And, he says, regardless of her lineage, Donna Dunnings is the perfect person to become the chief financial officer of Cook County.
• "He's got six-figure jobs he's handing out to friends and cronies at the same time he's laying off nurses, doctors and police. I think that's what's scandalous," said Claypool.
• "I am qualified for this job. There will always be critics. My mother told me Jesus walked on earth and he had critics," said Donna Dunnings, Cook County chief financial officer.

Ah yes, comparing yourself to Jesus just about shuts down all debate. Amazing. Hopefully, Todd's arrogance will eventually lead to the downfall of C(r)ook County government.

Banned? Or Not Banned?

Actually, we aren't sure if it's banned or if it's just someone down at HQ messing with the filters. As Rue St. Michel pointed out in one of the comment sections, when you try to load our site, you get a 404 error instead of the "You do not have permission to access this page" type message. As someone else said, this has happened before and the site came up at a later date.

But if the powers that be have banned us, so be it. Frankly, we're surprised it hadn't happened sooner. Yes, there is a colony of tiny brains that inhabit the board. And no, we can't prove that anyone who posts here is a Chicago cop - we have readers on 4 continents and upwards of 40% of our visits come from outside Chicago. If the people in charge are scared of maybe 800 people who visit twice a day and assorted hangers on who like what we post, they have bigger problems than we can imagine.

So the question arises - what was the trigger that finally pushed it over the edge? Was it the Area 5/025 unsafe building & OSHA inspectors story being spotlighted in the media? Or Bond claiming a "non-existent feud" with Streets & San? Or the various "merit" promotions brought to the attention of Noelle Breman's investigations? Bosses with thin skins? Or maybe one of the other blogspot boards out of control commentary led to a mass banning? We don't really care, we're just curious.

All this mean to us is a few hundred less hits a day and we weren't making any money off this anyway. It's a hobby - we enjoy doing it. It also means that the bosses that get talked about are going to have to read the board at home, just like everyone else. We never read the board at work and we certainly don't post anything from Department computers or answer e-mail from work. We did have someone check for us and we're still up at Streets & San, Chicago Public Schools, and the libraries. If anyone really needs to find us, there are ways to do so.

If you keep a mailing list of any sort, let people (especially retired cops) know about the SCC blog and the banning. Spread the word anyway. It makes the people with no sense of humor look that much more foolish.

UPDATE: Even banned, we did 2,600 hits on Monday - so the impact is negligible so far.

Ah Burton, You Silly Fool

Increased fines for running stop signs and stop lights:

• Motorists who run stop signs would face stiffer fines and--as an intended inconvenience--be required to appear in court under a proposed crackdown advanced today by a City Council committee.
  
  The attempt to get tough comes after complaints by aldermen that residents of their wards routinely are put in danger by drivers who roll through signs on neighborhood streets or disregard them altogether.
  

But you have got to love that Burton Natarus, master of the obvious:

• "I think police want to be crime fighters," said Ald. Burton Natarus (42d), the committee's chairman. "They don't want to be traffic cops."

So, what, now we're supposed to stop enforcing the other laws so Burton can feel good about stop sign enforcement? This Department has gotten away from enforcing traffic laws because the paperwork (and potential legal liability) involved with a simple traffic stop is so onerous as to make if far more desirable to chase the one bag dope pinch. But when has logic ever dictated anything this City does?

Rumors of Swiping

Swiping in and out that is. We managed to get a hold of Department Notice #06-49 which was last updated via Facsimile Message on 01 February 2007. The Notice states that Automated Attendance and Assignment Records will become active citywide on that date. Nothing in the Order states anything about swiping in or out. It's just attempting to automate another office job so the Department will be able to put another couple cops back on the street.

We also checked around for any sort of AdminFax that might say something about swiping in and out - nothing as of yet though if the comment sections are to be believed, TRU is going to be among the first to be swiping both in and out so as to cut down on the 4 hour days they are working and the classes they are attending on company time.

Good thing we don't believe even a third of what goes up in the comments sections.

In Case You Hadn't Heard ...

The Bears parade that was supposed to be held tomorrow, rain or shine, win or lose, has now been cancelled.

That is all.

Tax Tip, Deferred Comp, Banned?

If you're filing your taxes shortly, don't forget your telephone excise tax refund. At the bare minimum, it's $30 bucks and it goes up with the number of exemptions you claim.

Experts and economists are also seeing trends in the stock market that bode well. If you aren't into stocks or maxed out in Deferred Comp, consider it. Every dime counts when you're looking into retiring - especially 20 and out.

Can anyone verify if we've been banned from Department computers? This rumor pops up every so often and it's started again in the comments sections. We're just wondering. If the Department is so scared of a tiny little blog that barely gets 2,800 hits a day, probably by the same 800 people, then we are highly amused. We don't know if we're amused enough to switch blogging platforms and actually begin paying for another service, but it'd be interesting to say the least.

Terror Plots Disrupted

Unless you read a lot of the websites we do, you may have missed this entire story. We didn't see it in the Tribune or the Sun Times. It certainly wasn't covered on Channel 2, 5 or 7. LittleGreenFootballs.com points the spotlight at events over in Great Britain this past weekend:

• from News of the World (notw.com) -
  

  THE al-Qaeda plot to behead a British Muslim soldier was smashed after MI5 intercepted a panic order to the kidnap gang: "If you can't find a Muslim, ANY squaddie (soldier) will do."

  A military source revealed: "Security services and police had been watching for them to try to grab a Muslim soldier. But as soon as we knew they were willing to take anyone in any uniform " man or woman " and cut their head off then they had to act.

• from Jules Crittenden - The war with extremist Islam has just entered a new phase. Times of London: Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan and Iraq have issued orders for British cells to conduct a "low-tech" campaign of abductions and beheadings.

  ISLAMIC terror cells in Britain have been instructed to carry out a series of kidnappings and beheadings of the kind allegedly planned by the nine terrorist suspects arrested in Birmingham last week.

• from Protein Wisdom - What will be soon evident, I think, is a stunning philosophical inversion come spectacularly to light: as Europeans who once denounced the US for forcefully prosecuting the war against Islamists begin to recognize that their social liberalism and western guilt won't protect them from encroaching fascism gilded and reinforced with religious pretense, and so as a result begin calling on their governments to fight back in ways that the US Constitution would likely forbid, the US, for its part, always the continental wannabe, is only now coming around to that original European position - —helped out by endless partisan criticisms against the campaign, by a cultural weariness toward war, by an academic establishment steeped in transnational leftism with a desire to see the US "“humbled", and by media opportunism (or bias, take your pick) that has, by force of will, almost completely sapped us of our willingness to fight Islamism proactively.

We've thought about this on and off for a number of years now. We can't imagine that plots like these haven't been speculated about in certain terror circles. It's surprising that it seems to have only occurred in the former Russian provinces like Beslan, apartment bombings in Moscow and in Spain and London. . Can you imagine a school bombing here? A mall shooting? A copper being kidnapped and beheaded? There's just no way we are ready to deal with something on that scale. Certain individuals might be prepared, but as an institution? Don't even pretend.

And has anyone seen any kind of media coverage? Or is the first inkling that we're going to get is when we see the snuff film on the web?

Another Democrat Bites the Dust

Man, those democratic presidential candidates just keep dropping like flies. How about that John Edwards?

• Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards on Sunday said that he would raise taxes, chiefly on the wealthy, to pay for expanded healthcare coverage under a plan costing $90 billion to $120 billion a year to be unveiled on Monday.

  "We'll have to raise taxes. The only way you can pay for a healthcare plan that cost anywhere from $90 to $120 billion is there has to be a revenue source," Edwards said on NBC's Meet the Press news program.

No one, and we mean no one, has ever won a national election on a platform of raising taxes. Ever. And that was the tame misstep this week that didn't make headlines. Joe Biden made about the shortest presidential run in recorded history:

• Biden on Obama while announcing his candidacy - "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," he said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Wow. Way to be condescending. Seriously. You'd think this guy had former Kleagle and current democratic West Virginia Senator Byrd as his speechwriter. Amazing.

And then you've got Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) allegedly calling Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) a "whore." And Nancy Pelosi demanding free military air travel for herself, her staff, relatives and other members from the California delegation (which is beyond what Dennis Hastert had when he was speaker). And Hillary's people have barely started their campaign of destruction on Obama - this is going to be a very interesting year.

Well, That Sucked

Seriously sucked. Think there's a quarterback controversy for the off season? Maybe?

Anyone going to the parade Tuesday?

Cold Weather and the Bears

A damn cold night at the moment, a damn colder day tomorrow, and the bottom really falls out tomorrow night during the game.

And then there's the police preparations:

• "Chicago Police will have patrol coverage focusing on the Loop, entertainment venues and other points around the city. Mounted and bike patrol units will be also deployed, as well as our helicopter for aerial patrol to support our coverage," Cline said.
  
  "We want everybody to have a good time but we want to keep everyone safe -- that's our goal," Cline said Friday at a new conference.

No matter what happens, remember, property damage can always be repaired at a later date. Most property is insured. You however, cannot be replaced, and if you happen to get damaged, insurance only covers so much of your costs before your quality of life starts to deteriorate. Be safe out there after the game. Watch yourselves. Watch your partners' backs. Be careful. That is all.

Just What We Need - More Lawyers

Sounds like a tailor made program for what ails the Toddler and his 17% budget cuts:

• Illinois Senator Dick Durbin has a plan to help increase the number of public defenders and prosecutors in this country. He's sponsoring a bill that calls for the forgiveness of some of a student's law school debt when they graduate.

  It's part of an experimental program, where $10,000 of student loans are forgiven each year, if the new attorney agrees to be a prosecutor or public defender for three years.

We had heard that the average law student graduates with something well over $80,000 in student loans. But your Ivy League top grads still aren't going to be joining the ranks of PD's or ASA's. They best and brightest will still be able to retire their debt in a few short years without government help, which is really as it should be.

Minnesota - Liberal Utopia

Minnesota holds the distinction of a number of political oddities. It was the only state to go for Walter Mondale in the 1984 election. They elected Jesse Ventura to the governor's seat for a very entertaining term. They recently sent the first muslim to Congress who has made it his mission to stop all profiling of suspicious individuals who praise Osama bin Laden, sit in the seats known to have been occupied by 9/11 hijackers and refuse to follow lawful instructions from flight crews.

Now they are trying to remove your right to be a decent citizen:

• CAMBRIDGE, Minn. -- A farmer who chased down a thief and held him at gunpoint until authorities arrived now faces a more serious charge than the thief himself.

  Kenneth Englund, 74, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony. The thief, who the sheriff said admitted stealing about $5 worth of gasoline from Englund's neighbor, was charged with misdemeanor theft.

  Sheriff Mike Ammend said people can't take the law into their own hands, and that Englund's actions were ''an invitation to a shootout. There's so many things that could have gone wrong.''

Someone really ought to take this jackass sheriff to school. Englund's actions were "an invitation to a shootout"? What about the actions of the thief? What a tool. Nice way to discourage people from looking out for their neighbors. We really hope the voters soon make this bumbling Barney Fife unemployable in Cambridge. We can hardly believe there is a state in the union that doesn't have a right to "citizen's arrest."

Though it is amusing that a 74 year old farmer chased down the thief. Way to go old timer.

Toddler Levels the Playing Field

On one hand, you have State's Attorney Dick Devine complaining loudly about the 17% budget cuts being forced on every county agency in an effort to trim costs. Devine says that these cuts will force his prosecutors to accept more plea bargains (though it's hard to imagine them accepting any more than they already do) and will force his office to be unable to retain the best and brightest among the Harvard and Yale graduates that usually work in County prosecution offices.

Trust Urkel and his people to come up with a brilliant idea:

• Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wants public defenders to work just four days a week -- and sometimes only three.

  Stroger announced the cost-saving measure Thursday in a letter from special assistant Jonathan Rothstein to the union that represents assistant public defenders.

  The letter says starting March 5, no assistant public defender will work more than four days a week.

Hopefully, the public defenders' off days will coincide with the days that ASA's are offering some of these plea bargains. It's a happy medium for everyone!

Unabomber Redux?

Pipe bombs in the mail in Kansas City and Chicago. Channel 7 and Sun Times coverage.

From what we can gather and what we've heard, these were fully function bombs aside from the triggers. Obviously, they looked a little different from the "lite-brite" advertisements and photos most likely won't be forthcoming.

But we'd be most interested in finding out what the motivation was behind this. And wonder why mail is screened a little more thoroughly nowadays. Any chance the US Mail is going to be x-rayed or ionized or electronically sniffed for explosives, biohazards or anything else dangerous?

What Are We? Goofy?

For the Tribune links, user name "garbagegoeshere@gmail.com" and password "123456" can be used to avoid being placed on assorted spam lists.

So Turner Broadcasting is apologizing for a poorly thought out "guerilla advertising" campaign that involved placing a number of "devices" in odd places in major cities across the nation. One would think that advertisers might be more than a little sensitive to the overnight appearances of a number of objects with batteries and wires in public venues - but evidently marketing geniuses don't think like regular people do. But then we saw what these things looked like:

And do you know what we immediately thought of?

This brings us to a conflict of thoughts. On one hand, these are simply "lite-brite" boards wired to show you a side order of french fries giving you the finger - and lord only knows we need more deep fried potatoes flipping us the bird.

On the other hand, it's kind of amazing that two guys with a pole and some magnets could run around the city sticking things to structures and no one says a word about it for 3 weeks. Amazing in a kind of scary way that we've become so complacent again in the wake of a 5 year war with islamic terrorists and an absence of major incidents on US soil.

And then, you have this from the Superintendent:

• Cline asked Turner Broadcasting System Inc. on Thursday to reimburse the city for funds spent removing 20 of the gadgets from train platforms and storefronts, mostly on the North Side, after a guerrilla-marketing campaign for the company's adult cartoon show went awry.
• Cline said he thought the city should be reimbursed for the pay of officers who spent several hours searching for the devices.

Searching for the devices? Come on now Phil:

• Interference Inc., a New York marketing company that staged the campaign, provided Chicago police with the signs' 35 locations around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. At that point, officers fanned out to retrieve the devices.

Police didn't "find" anything. They were provided with the exact locations and they still didn't find 10 devices. Once they were determined to have been an advertisement, civilians could have been sent out to get these things. We saw a news report that one lady had her husband take it off of their building by reaching out a window. How is this even a police matter?

What should be a police matter is whether officers and CTA track inspectors are trained enough to recognize when something doesn't belong on or near a structure. Something like a shaped charge maybe? We already know what the answer is, but it makes one wonder about how much money is wasted on a daily basis when something as low tech as a lite-brite advertising board can shut down a major city like Boston and provoke such a half hearted response from Chicago. Because guess who else is watching, every single day?

Get Rid of Your Guns!

Another blow to citizens' rights via Cook County:

• Effective November 14, 2006, a Cook County gun ban Ordinance criminalizes the otherwise lawful possession of many common firearms and large capacity magazines. The law provides for imprisonment up to 6 months, fines, and confiscation and destruction of the enumerated weapons. Owners of such firearms or large capacity magazines have until February 12, 2007 to either remove the affected guns and remove any large capacity magazines from Cook County or surrender them to the police for destruction.
  
  What firearms and magazines are affected by this county wide ban? Over 60 firearms are specifically listed as being illegal, including the deer rifle popular in many Midwest states, the SKS with a detachable magazine. Popular self defense weapons like the Mossberg 500 pump, and popular target shooting semiautomatic AR-15 are also illegal. In addition, all magazines that can hold more than 10 shells are banned.
  
  The Ordinance specifically bans any semiautomatic shotgun that has a fixed magazine with a capacity in excess of five rounds. Since shotgun shell rounds can be obtained in sizes as short as 2 inches, the ordinance can be construed to ban all common semiautomatic shotguns.

That is Some Bust

Get your minds out of the gutter:

• Chicago Lawn District police tactical officers saw a U-Haul truck parked in a lot in the 4000 block at South Pulaski Avenue about 12:05 a.m., according to a police News Affairs release. The officers noticed an "open brick of cannabis" on the truck's floor and immediately arrested the 57-year-old driver, the release stated.

  After further investigation, the officers discovered two large duffle bags of cash containing a total of about $100,000, 113 kilos of cocaine stored in Tupperware and hidden in two heaters and 3,000 pounds cannabis, the release stated.
  

Too bad it wasn't at a Seatbelt Safety Enforcement Zone. What a publicity coup that would have been! Nice pinch boys and girls.

Separated at Birth?

You be the judge:

This is (allegedly) Seiser:This is Roe Conn:Twins?

It's Never Too Early

To start thinking about Police Memorial Week.

We were directed to this website by a reader. This isn't the Washington DC memorial that attracts so many, but the lesser known The Greater Cleveland Peace Officers' Memorial. Still, just about everyone we've heard who has attended both prefers the Cleveland memorial by a small margin. Think about attending one or both of the memorials